December To Dismember 2006
December to Dismember 2006 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on December 3, 2006 at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia. Professional wrestling is a type of sports entertainment in which theatrical events are combined with a competitive sport. The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before, during, and after the event, were planned by WWE's script writers. The event starred wrestlers from the ECW brand: storyline expansions of the promotion where employees are assigned to wrestling brands under the WWE banner. Despite it being an ECW brand pay-per-view, wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands also worked on the pay-per-view. Its name was derived from the December to Dismember event held by the original Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1995. The main attraction on the event card was an Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship. It featured wrestlers fighting in a ring surrounded by a steel structure of chain and girders. The six participants were defending champion The Big Show, Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam, Hardcore Holly, CM Punk and Test. Lashley won the match and the ECW World Championship after pinning Big Show following a spear. The featured bout on the undercard was a tag team bout between The Hardys (real-life brothers Matt and Jeff) and MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro), in which The Hardys were victorious. Background The main event at December to Dismember featured an Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW Championship. On the October 24, 2006 episode of ECW, Rob Van Dam defeated the ECW World Champion, Big Show for the second consecutive time. Per the stipulation, if Van Dam were to defeat the Big Show again, in a ladder match, he could then choose a time to face the Big Show for the ECW Championship.13 Van Dam chose to have his title shot at the December to Dismember pay-per-view.14 Authority figure, Paul Heyman, authorized Van Dam's decision and added him to the Extreme Elimination Chamber contest for the ECW Championship along with Big Show and four other ECW superstars.15 The remaining four participants for the Extreme Elimination Chamber match were decided through standard singles matches. The first person to qualify for the match was Sabu, who defeated Kevin Thorn on the October 31, 2006 episode of ECW. The following week, CM Punk and Test qualified by defeating Mike Knox and Tommy Dreamer, respectively.16 The final place was to be given to Hardcore Holly in a contract signing segment on the November 14, 2006 episode of ECW. As Holly was making his way to the ring, Bobby Lashley, a wrestler from the SmackDown! brand, attacked Holly and signed his contract himself to gain the sixth and final place in the Extreme Elimination Chamber.17 Although the six spots in the bout were filled, Heyman announced a Extreme Rules match, between Van Dam and Holly, on the November 21, 2006 episode of ECW. If Holly were to defeat Van Dam he would take his place in the Extreme Elimination Chamber; Van Dam however, won the match and cemented his place in the Extreme Elimination Chamber. Van Dam continued gaining momentum going into December to Dismember pay-per-view, as he, along with team members Sabu, Lashley, John Cena and Kane defeated the team of Big Show, Test, Umaga, Finlay and Montel Vontavious Porter in a 5-on-5, elimination tag team match, at the Survivor Series pay-per-view. On the final episode of ECW, before December to Dismember, Van Dam defeated Sabu. Later in the show, CM Punk faced Test, but both men were counted out in their bout. In the main event, Big Show was disqualified in his match against Lashley as Test and Heyman's Security Force (Doug and Danny Basham) assaulted Lashley. The other main rivalry heading into December to Dismember was between the Hardy Boyz and MNM (Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro and Melina). Unlike the Extreme Elimination Chamber rivalry, this one did not include ECW superstars and only featured members of the Raw and SmackDown! brands, making the pay-per-view non-exclusive to ECW, spanning all three WWE brands.The buildup to the match between them began when Nitro and Jeff Hardy started to feud over the Intercontinental Championship on Raw.2324 The two competed in several different types of matches, including a ladder match. The Hardy Boyz had just teamed up for the first time since 2002, when they defeated Tony Mamaluke and Little Guido Maritato on an episode of ECW. At Survivor Series, The Hardy Boyz, along with D-Generation X and CM Punk defeated the team of Nitro, Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton), Mike Knox and Gregory Helms in a traditional Survivor Series team elimination match. The next day at the December to Dismember press conference, The Hardy Boyz announced an open challenge for the pay-per-view. Later that night on Raw, Nitro accepted the challenge, announcing the return of Mercury and the "one night only" reformation of MNM. On the following episode of ECW, MNM attacked The Hardy Boyz after they defeated Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay. Meanwhile, Voodoo Kin Mafia, a tag team from the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion, issued a statement via the TNA website stating that they had accepted The Hardy Boyz open challenge for December to Dismember. However, Voodoo Kin Mafia did not turn up at the event, and WWE never acknowledged their challenge. Only two matches were officially announced for the pay-per-view before it aired. Results ; ; *The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) defeated MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro) (w/ Melina) (22:33) *Balls Mahoney defeated Matt Striker in a Striker's Rules match (7:12) *Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay defeated The Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido Maritato and Tony Mamaluke) (w/ Trinity) (6:41) *Daivari (w/ The Great Khali) defeated Tommy Dreamer (7:22) *Kevin Thorn and Ariel defeated Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly in an Intergender tag team match (7:43) *Bobby Lashley defeated The Big Show ©, Rob Van Dam, Hardcore Holly, CM Punk and Test in an Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship (24:42) Elimination Chamber entrances and eliminations Other on-screen talent See also *List of WWE pay-per-view events *WWE Event History *Survivor Series DVD & Video Releases * December To Dismember 2006 on DVD External links * December To Dismember 2006 official website * December To Dismember 2006 CAGEMATCH.net * December To Dismember 2006 at Online World of Wrestling * on WWE Network Video Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2006 pay-per-view events Category:Extreme Championship Wrestling pay-per-view events Category:December To Dismember